RESPONSIBILITY FOR WAR

Question 1

Chrono order of factors

Answer 1

1895 SINO-JAP WAR + 1905 RUSSO-JAP WAR
1915: ‘21 DEMANDS’
1919 PEACE CONFERENCE - racial equality
1921 WASHINGTON NAVAL CONFERENCE - Nine Power Pact 
1924 IMMIGRATION LAW 
1931 MUKDEN INCIDENT/MANCHURIA                                                          
LYTTON COMMISION OF ENQUIRY 1932
STIMSON DOCTRINE 1932
1937 MARCO POLO BRIDGE INCIDENT - Nanking
JULY 26, 1940 EXPORT CONTROL ACT
22 SEPTEMBER, 1940 INVASION OF INDOCHINA
26 JULY, 1941: JAP ASSETS FROZEN
27 SEPTEMBER, 1940 TRIPARTITE PACT
26 NOVEMBER, 1941: HULL NOTE

Question 2

Western refusal to accept the Asian upstart as a true equal…. (Van Der Vat)

Answer 2

“only fuelled Japanese expansionist ambition even further”.

Question 3

Harry Wray argues the West should have met Japanese aggression in Manchuria with

Answer 3

“stiff economic sanctions and perhaps a show of force”

Question 4

Ikuhiko Hata claims that by signing the Tripartite Pact,

Answer 4

“Japan became unequivocally an enemy of the US”

Question 5

“the American stand made war inevitable”

Answer 5

Konoye

Question 6

Hilary Conroy claims that given the peace concerns of Nomura, Konoye, and the emperor, it should have been possible for American diplomats to

Answer 6

“to find a way to at least postpone hostilities, perhaps indefinitely” -

Question 7

Admiral Nagumo said

Answer 7

“An operation, while it might be extremely dangerous, would still offer some hope of saving his life”.

Question 8

what were 21 demands

Answer 8

Forced China to acknowledge Jap possession of former German holdings & its economic dominance of Manchuria, & had the potential of turning China into a puppet state

Jap accepted as a compromise territorial concessions in Manchuria & Shandong = fuelled Japan’s bitterness over the policies of the European states + US

Question 9

what was the Allied response to 21 demands

Answer 9

European states w concessions in China, along with US which favoured an ‘Open Door Policy’, objected strongly to Japan’s unilateral demands. = Japan obliged to withdraw its claims
International reaction was hostile - US most critical & warned Japan that it would not tolerate any agreement that threatened US interests in the area.

Question 10

why did the 1919 PEACE CONFERENCE anger Japs

Answer 10

• Despite being one of the Big Five Japan was only granted rights in Shandong & LoN mandates over former German territories =Further aggravated nationalists in Japan
• from the Jap perspective this territorial settlement hardly reflected the central position that they felt they deserved to occupy in Asia
• Jap ‘Racial Equality Clause’ (guarantee equal treatment of foreign nationals regardless of race) was rejected = It was clear to Japs that the Europeans + Americans did not regard them as equals

Question 11

what was 1921 WASHINGTON NAVAL CONFERENCE

& what was J reaction

Answer 11

• Nine Power Pact agreed to respect China’s sovereignty (which Japan breaches in its invasion)
• Insisted Japan terminate its bilateral alliance w the Brit empire & relinquish control of the Shandong Peninsula in China
• Appeared to Japs as if they were being singled out + treated differently from Europeans (whose occupation of Chinese territory remained unabated)
• Jap leadersbelieved that their country deserved a greater share of the international spoils than a succession of multilateral negotiations had afforded them

Question 12

1924 IMMIGRATION LAW

Answer 12

Another factor that highlighted America’s anti-asian, specifically anti-japanese, sentiment

Fanned further resentment in Japan - These laws enforced segregation and barring Japanese (and often Chinese) from citizenship, land ownership and immigration

Question 13

1931 MUKDEN INCIDENT/MANCHURIA

Answer 13

• By early 1932 the conquest of all Manchuria was completed
• March 1932: independent state of Manchukuo was proclaimed
• Jap action in Manchuria was a clear breach of the League covenant - (tho major powers were unwilling to commit themselves to military or economic sanctions due to domestic problems w depression)

Question 14

2 responses to Mukden incident

Answer 14

LYTTON COMMISION OF ENQUIRY 1932 =reported that Manchuria was Chinese, the setting up of Manchukuo was illegal & that jap troops should withdraw = japan withdrew from League march 27, 1933

STIMSON DOCTRINE 1932 = Declared that US would not officially recognise Manchukuo or any arrangement imposed upon the chinese by force

Question 15

1937 MARCO POLO BRIDGE INCIDENT

Answer 15

• Seized control of main cities on the East Coast of China
• Japanese leaders thought their deeply Asian civilisation gave it a natural right to this control & refused to negotiate Western demands that it withdraw from China
• American public and elite opinion—including even the isolationists—strongly opposed Japan’s invasion
• Japanese atrocities during the conflict, such as the Nanking Massacre that December, served to further complicate these relations & exacerbated anti-japanese sentiment

Question 16

JULY 26, 1940 EXPORT CONTROL ACT

Answer 16

• cutting oil, iron and steel exports to Japan
• containment policy seen as a warning to Japan that any further military expansion would result in further sanctions.
• These efforts failed to deter Japan from continuing its war in China, or from signing the Tripartite Pact in 1940

Question 17

22 SEPTEMBER, 1940 INVASION OF INDOCHINA

Answer 17

• In an effort to embargo all imports into China, including war supplies purchased from the U.S.
• raised tensions. Along with Japan’s war with China, withdrawal from the League of Nations, alliance with Germany and Italy and increasing militarization, the move induced the U.S to intensify its measures to restrain Japan economically

Question 18

26 JULY, 1941: JAP ASSETS FROZEN

Answer 18

• Responding to Japanese occupation of key airfields in Indochina (July 24) the U.S. froze Japanese assets & established an embargo on oil and gasoline exports to Japan.
• This was followed the AU, Brit & the Dutch gov 9 in ‘ABCD encirlement’ and was an especially strong response as oil was Japan’s most crucial import (more than 80% of Japan’s oil coming from the U.S)
• The embargo reduced Japanese options to: seize Southeast Asia before its existing stocks of strategic materials were depleted, or submission to American demands.

Question 19

“Japan was pushed into war by economic strangulation”

Answer 19

Robert Harvey:

Question 20

26 NOVEMBER, 1941: HULL NOTE

Answer 20

• Required Japan to evacuate all of China, unconditionally, and to conclude non-aggression pacts w/ Pacific powers.
• Diplomacy provided very little space for the adjudication of the deep differences between Japan and the U.S